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AN AWAKENING 

ADDRESS 

Delivered at Allenhurst, New Jersey, July 4, 1911 

upon the occasion of the 

ANNUAL MEETING 

of the 

Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey 

by 

THE HON. WILLIAM PENNINGTON 

Vice-President of the Society 



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.1 



ADDRKSS 

— BY — 

Hon. WiLLiAPvi Pennington 



The Society of the Cincinnati was instituted directly 
after the close of the war of the Revolution by the Officers 
of the Continental Army. The truth of that statement is 
the absolute foundation of this organization, the original 
of all patriotic societies, and the base upon which subsequent 
orders of a like nature have since been reared. It is well 
that not only members of the Cincinnati, who should need 
no emphatic reminders of this, but those belonging to 
kindred societies be impressed with a fact of such supreme 
importance. Let us consider for a moment what all this 
means ; a war undertaken to right wrongs that cried aloud 
in their extreme injustice for remedy or abolition ; a war 
that ultimately became a struggle for absolute freedom of 
individual and institution, and in its ultimate result brought 
into existence the greatest Republic upon this earth, had 
just come to a close. The English possessions known as 
the American Colonies were now freed from the overbear- 
ing and insolent domination of Great Britain's King and 
Ministry, and belonged to the liberty-loving people whose 
cause had triumped along with their victorious armies. 
These armies were at the outset of the struggle motley 
aggregations, grotesque, one might say, if such a word 
could be applied to that which was so noble in motive and 
exalted in incentive as this citizen army that found itself in 
pitiful array against the trained soldiers of His Majesty 
King George III, in the year A. D. 1776. Is it possible for 
us in this advanced day and generation to realize what liv- 
ing in these wonderful times meant? Can you imagine 
what the daily life of an active patriotic man must have 
been then? The terrific importance of a combat at arms 
wherein the physical odds were so painfully against the 



4 Address by Hon. William Pennington 

success of the principles involved must have so taken pos- 
session of the hearts and brains of the patriots of that day, 
that they literally and absolutely resolved to die ; to give 
up their lives in real earnest fact ere they would falter or 
bend the knee in surrender of either individual or principle. 
We talk and read lightVy about sacrifices, the giving of life 
for life, in ancient and in current affairs, but do we Amer- 
icans living now ever put ourselves in the place of these 
founders and heroes of one hundred and thirty-five years 
ago and grant to their memories in silence and in awe their 
meed of reverence. In the hurly-burly of to-day we fail to 
recall as often as would be for our own good these facts, 
that this nation, one of the greatest in existence, is but a 
baby in years as Empires are reckoned, and all that we see 
about us — that which compels a world-wide wonder and 
admiration, had its inception and inspiration in those first 
rude struggles between the farm hands and defenders of 
their rural homes with scarlet-coated soldiers from across 
the sea, and rising like incense from the smoke of these 
early unequal conflicts has come the apotheosis of power, 
dignity, wealth and independence, which today we call with 
pride the United States of America. But what could those 
earnest, loyal, liberty-loving men accomplish, unofficered 
and undisciplined? Could courage unfostered and un- 
husbanded accomplish aught without hardship and a dom- 
inant directing will? And so even as the householders 
rushed to arms and filled the ranks, rare souls with the 
Divine gift of oommand took their exalted stations at the 
head of these untried troops and the war went on through 
alternate elation and depression, but always with a dogged 
determination, to its triumphal close. 

At the time of these soul-stirring happenings, and 
under these rare conditions, the Society of the Cincinnati 
came into being. Can you imagine a more responsible 
heritage than you as a member of this Society possess? 
Linked by ties the most sacred in life's experience, you 
were by an inversion of inheritance represented in that 



Address by Hon. William Pennington 5 

famous gathering at the Verplanck House, whereat the 
Society was formally organized ; your ancestor, whatever 
his rank, spoke at that time for you through his representa- 
tives in that assembly, and pledged you to a faithful fulfil- 
ment of the duties of this choice brotherhood. What do 
you think was uppermost in the minds of these great men 
when they came to realize the importance of these princi- 
ples? I believe they saw in the long vista of the future a 
nucleus for such love of country and mystic binding 
together their posterity in a hallowed fraternity ever deep- 
ening, no matter whether the actual membership increased 
or fell away, as would exert a positive and incalculable 
influence for good upon the destinies of their country, and 
they had the belief because they could not find it in their 
hearts to doubt, that a strong reciprocal sentiment would 
bind close together for all time as nothing else coiild, this 
one Society of Friends. See what was given to us to treas- 
ure and emphasize ; a permanent membership for our 
posterity in an organization whose founders were also 
the founders of the Republic in which we live. Can you 
parallel this happening? Do you realize this privilege? 
And what is asked of you latter day Cincinnatus? Atten- 
tion, reverence, and an intelligent and scrupulous perform- 
ance of the duty you owe to your Country, your Society 
and your ancesters, and I may add to yourself. I fear and 
I dislike to acknowledge it, but I greatly fear that a lack of 
knowledge which tends to chill realization is to blame for 
the lapse of devotion now and then in this State Society 
and elsewhere within the order at large. But, call to mind 
the remarkable proprietary interest which we rightful 
inheritors of Cincinnati membership hold in a fellowship 
founded upon and co-existent with this great Republic of 
which we are citizens. Do we appreciate the significance 
of this? I most respectfully maintain that members of the 
order of the Society of the Cincinnati, whose title thereto 
is complete and flawless, are in their own persons more 
closely identified with the birth and early nurture of this 



6 Address by Hon. William Pennington 

great Republic than any other sentient being — and as such 
stand alone in all the confusion and multiplicity of patriotic 
societies and kindred movements of the present day. Do 
you think every member of this order realizes this fact as 
he ought? Do you believe that if these truths were taken 
to heart and believed as experiences in life are realized that 
there would be as much indifference in Society matters as 
there is? I know there would not be. And so in an attempt 
to awaken a live conception of our duties as members of 
this order and to outline what was transpiring when this 
wonderful Society was given life, — a life co-existent with 
the Government its founders helped to create, I have 
written this brief paper. 

Brothers let us in our solitary hours dwell in memory 
upon the past, but emerging from this reflective mood let 
us bestir ourselves as active patriots. The chief negligence 
in Society matters is through non-attendance at meetings. 
I beg of you, gentlemen, to let nothing but death or serious 
illness or too great a distance stand between these meetings 
and yourselves. Your ancestor has pledged you to keep 
alive sentiments of patriotism, and you must obey these 
mandates if you are to be a worthy member of this Society. 
If you wish inspiration conjure up as by the wand of 
Wizardry, the last scenes at Yorktown, where our allies the 
Due De Rochambeau and the beloved Lafayette, helped us 
to victory in the final scenes; going back a little let us call 
to mind Valley Forge and the blood-stained snow — stained 
with the blood of patriots. — Then we in New Jersey — 
brothers all, should call to mind, Princeton, Monmouth and 
above all, that "Unhappy affair at Trenton", these are scenes 
in which by an inverse scheme of representation we partic- 
ipated. Were we not nobly represented there in the thick 
of the conflict, with the liberties of individuals and the fate 
of nations at stake? How do we fulfill our duty as repre- 
sentatives of these noble sires in this year of grace 191 1? 

"The following principles shall be immutable and form 
the basis of the Society of the Cincinnati. 



Address by Hon. William Pennington 7 

"An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those 
rights and liberties of human nature for which they have 
fought and bled, and without which the high rank of a 
rational being is a curse instead of a blessing. 

"An unalterable determination to promote and cherish, 
between the respective States, that union and national 
honor so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the 
future dignity of the American Empire." 

That is what is asked of us — is it much compared to 
what was done for us? Oh let there be a richly awakened 
interest in this great order, the noblest on earth, let us in 
New Jersey show to the Country and to each other, that 
the Divine spark still lives undimmed and undiminished 
and let there be no excuse for non-attendance at our meet- 
ings, so shall we go from strength to strength individuall)^ 
and collectively, as members of the Society of the Cincin- 
nati — and prove to all mankind the propriety of our beloved 
order and make its accomplishments for good evident unto 
all, thus justifying by our acts the intent of those glorious 
characters gone before, and fulfilling as men the duties so 
honorably entrusted to us. 



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